Last week I talked about how to use medicinal herbs in from your garden to create healthy teas, infusions and decoctions. This week I want to talk about using your herbs to make healing oils, salves and lip balm. It’s really very easy and you can formulate your recipe to address specific issues such as cracked lips, chapped hands, dry skin, eczema, cuts and scratches and bruising by choosing the herbs appropriate for each condition.

Let’s look at the process first, and then we’ll take a look at some specific herbs. The first part of the process is making the oil that will be the base of the salve. This is called making an oil infusion and it involves harvesting your fresh herbs, picking out any dead or diseased parts then chopping it coarsely and filling a pint jar with them. It is a good idea to sterilize your jars and lids. I do this by piling everything into a big canning pot with some water and bringing it to a boil. The herbs do not need to be, nor should they be, washed. Of course, if you don’t have fresh herb available you can certainly use dried herbs you have purchased at an herb or health food store. When harvesting fresh herbs it is important to wait until late morning on a sunny day so the dew will have completely dried. You want to make sure the herb is completely dry before making your oil infusion otherwise you may get mold growing, and that would spoil the whole batch.

So, now we have a pint jar filled with fresh or dried herb next we choose the kind of oil you would like to use. Each oil has specific characteristics that it will impart to the finished product. I mostly use cold pressed olive oil because it is strongly anti-microbial and chemically stable. Other oils to choose from are Almond, jojoba, walnut, grape seed and there are many others. Now pour the oil over the herb and fill the jar to the top. You want to release any air bubbles that may be trapped by poking a chop stick or butter knife down the sides of the jar. Make sure the oil covers the herbal material completely and cap the jar. This will help prevent mold from growing.

At this point you have several options for achieving the infusion. You could simply set this on the counter out of the way and let it sit for 6 weeks or so. This is called a cold infusion. Another method is solar infusing or using the sun’s heat to speed the infusion process on its way. Simply put your jar on a window sill, or out in the sun for a few days. If you are in a real hurry you may want to make a warm infusion using some heat. There are several ways to do this. One easy way is to use a slow cooker or crock pot set on low. Place your jar in the crock pot for about 8 hours. Another way to make a warm infusion is to add your herbs to a stainless steel pan, cover them with at least a half inch of oil and gently, ever so gently, heat them on the stove for about 30 minutes stirring continuously and never allowing it to get anywhere near boiling.

Once you have finished the infusion process you will want to strain off the herbal material. A double or triple layer of clean cheesecloth works well, but so does a clean dish towel. Don’t forget to squeeze out the cloth to get all the oil. Once strained you want to let the oil sit for a day or so to let any water sink to the bottom of the jar. Once that has happened you can carefully pour off the oil and bottle it. It is best to use colored glass bottles because light can oxidize the oil and make it go rancid. Because of this, many people add some vitamin E to their oil. Vitamin E is an anti-oxidant and will keep the oil fresh. You may want to use 1 tsp per pint jar.

These herbal oils can be used just as they are or they can be further processed into salves or lip balm. This is an easy process that involves heating about an ounce of oil and adding 1 or 2 tablespoons of grated beeswax. Again, you want to gently heat and never allow this mix to boil. Once the beeswax is completely melted you can pour the mix into containers and let it cool and firm up. If it turns out too hard you can re-heat it and add a bit more oil, or if too soft, re-heat it and add a bit more beeswax. It is really that easy.

I bet you have many of the herbs already growing in your yard and many more of them can be wild crafted from woods and fields. If you gather from the wild be sure to give thanks and only take what you need. Here are few herbs to choose from:

Arnica flowers relieve pain and swelling from bruises and sprains.

Chamomile and Lavender flowers are anti-septic, calming and soothing.

Coltsfoot and Horsetail leaves are full of silica and have regenerative properties.

Comfrey root and leaves help rebuild bone and tissue and are regenerative.

St. John’s Wort is very soothing to the skin and eases sunburn, cuts and scrapes and scratches.

Calendula is a premier skin healer rebuilding skin cells it is also anti-inflammatory so it’s great for cuts and scratches.

Rose petals are soothing and softening and are good for reducing scar tissue.

These are just a few of the common plants that can be used to make healing ointments, there are many more for you to explore. They can be used alone or mixed into combinations depending on the condition you wish to treat. Medicine is everywhere just waiting for us to discover and use it.